CORONER’S INQUESTS.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 765, 13 August 1853, Page 3

CORONER’S INQUESTS.

An Inquest was held at Pamnure, on Wednesday last, the Bth inst., before Captain McDonald, Coroner, on (he body of Matilda Carline, aged eight years, daughter of a pensioner at Paninure. It appeared from the evidence (hat her death was occasioned by her accidentally falling, on (he preceding Sunday, into a well near her lather’s house. Verdict accordingly. Another inquest was held at Howick, on Wednesday last, on a body found under (he following circumstances. On Tuesday morning, as a man in the service of Mr. Mason was going in a cart along (he beach between his residence and Howick, he observed, at about high water mark, a body lying on its face, half buried in the sand. He returned and reported what he had seen to Mr. Mason, who immediately forwarded the intelligence to the Coroner. Captain McDonald caused the body to he brought to Howick the same evening, and on the following day held an inquest. On examination, the body was found to lie much decomposed, especially about the face. The head was covered with long auburn hair; and the body was clothed in moleskin (rowsers, and a blue woollen shirt oyer a pink striped colleu shirt. '1 here was a patent belt round it, and a sailor's knife suspended by a cord from the neck; there was a short pipe in the breast. The body was about live feel high, and, so far as could he judged from the appearance, that of a lad of fourteen or fifteen years of age. The hell, knife, and pipe, were retained by the Coroner, in the expectation that they might afterwards lead to a discovery of the identity of the deceased. It was supposed that death had taken place about len days previously. After due consideration of the facts before (hem, the Jury returned the following Verdict; —“ 1 hat the deceased, name unknown, came to his death by means unknown to the Jurors, except that it appears by tlie evidence that his death might have been caused by drowning; but when, where, and how, there is no evidence to prove. We are informed that inquiries which have been made since the Inquest, aided by the articles found on the body, leave little doubt that the body was that of a lad named McGuiuucss, who accompanied a person named Kennedy in a boat which is believed to have been upset near the Tamaki heads, about the time at which the deceased was supposed by the Jury, to have been drowned,

Reward for Military Service.— lt was the gratifying duly of Captain McDonald, at the last parade of the Enrolled Pensioners at llowiek, to present to Timothy Shea, of that division, a medal which bad been awarded to him by Her Majesty’s command, as a testimonial on account of service in China.